St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1887-07-14
PROGRESS AT WALTHAM.

manufacturers OF pocket tlmepleces.
During an interview the other day with
representative of Robbins & Apple
ton, he said: .sWe have a number OF
novelties that ought to be worthy of
your attention, and in fact OF the trade
in general. During the year 1886, we
have had a steadily-increasing demand
for our better class of goods. This is
owing to the very great improvements
which have therein been accomplished.
For instance, all the watches fitted with
our patent Breguet handspring have
met with special favor, because Of the
great amount of extra quality which
this handspring imparts to the goods.
The company seem to have pursued
the policy of not increasing the guam
tity of their lowest priced goods, but
rather of putting the better and
medium grades ut figures which
bring them within the reach OF
a very limited purse, and en-
able dealers with very limited capital
to lay in an assorted stock of good
quality goods OF great popularity.
The B artlett watch may be taken as an
example. Here is movement equipped
with all that can possibly be put into q
watch to make it thorough time
keeper, and its price is fabulously low.
An English matchmaker recently took
one of these Bartlett movements OF the
new model, examined it carefully, and
| quietly put it together with the remark:
This movement is worth e. Yet 1t
is sold for nearly as many dollars.
1--WE have turned out some very fine
work in the way of identifying the APP
| pearance of the watch, both in nickel
frosting and raying, which never had
been done before. These processes
| permit an almost endless variety of de-
| signs and patterns which adapt them
selves beautifully to the shape Of the
watch-plate.
The chief novelty with which the
company start out this year is their one
size watch-the smallest and thinnest,
as we'll as the finest, ladies watch ever
made in this country. The diameter
gifts dial is just the size of a half-dollar
| piece. The train is made of gold: the
| jewel-settings likewise; and the jewels
| themselves are faultless rubies of the
| darkest color. The watch is thorough
| ly adjusted, and capable of the very
finest time keeping. Its price is very
moderate-indeed, considering the ex-
wonderfully low.
Another novelty is the 'Waltham
Minute Register Chronograph.' This
watch is so constructed as to show by
means of diminutive dial-bit and
special hand the minutes during which
the long fifth-second hand revolves.
Here my informant exhibited the oper-
alton of the chronograph. The long
| fifth-second hand and the small special
hand are normally stationary at y, or
zero. BY pressing the stem, both hands
are started, the small hand recording
successive minutes up to fifteen. At
any moment both hands may be
stopped, and another motion sends
them back to zero. This device is
especially useful to sportsmen, scien-
fists, physicians, engineers, machinists,
! etc. The same attachment is applied
to the Waltham split seconds chrono-
| graph, making it the most durable
watch of the kind, inasmuch as the
mechanism is very simple and almost
indestructible. The Waltham chrono-
graph is made in the first place to be
an accurate time-keeper, built on the
model of the company's finest 14size
watch. On top of this movement, and
without complicating it, the chrono-
graph attachment is fastened, thus
clearly exposing to view the entire
chronograph apparatus. The plainest
| country matchmaker can take the at
tachment apart and set it together
again without trouble. A Swiss watch
maker recently remarked that nobody
would have dreamed ten years ago that
the Americans would ever be able to
make any so-called complicated time
keepers, and that they really do not
make them; but they obtained watches
that had the most exact and minute
time-keeping on a much simpler con-
struction. AS consequence, the Amer
lean watch is more reliable, less costly
to produce, and certainly without ex-
pense to keep in thorough-going order.
1.-The company have added several
grades of six-size watches to their list,
which they will be able to put on the
market in the neighborhood Of March
l.. This will make eight different quail
tiles of six-size movements, which,
with the various cases-hunting and
open-face, gold, silver and aluminine-
with an almost endless variety of
ladies' watches, affords range of choice
from the cheapest limit at which gold
watch may be expected to the diamond
studded watch for the millionaire's wife.
During the year 1886 we have added
two new grades of sixteen-size watches,
which really make that part of the as
sortment surprising one. Sixteen
size watches of the Waltham pattern
have always been considered very
dear watch to make; but it seems that